PSYCH: "One, Maybe Two, Ways Out"Review

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Shawn and Gus play the spy game.

By Jonah Krakow

Well, PSYCH fans, we can all sleep a little more soundly now that we've gotten what we've waited four and a half seasons for. Of course, I'm speaking about the guest spot by C. Thomas Howell, who, as an 80's movie icon, really should've been on this show a lot sooner. He played Driggs, a secret agent on the trail of Nadia (Franka Potente of Run Lola Run and the Bourne films), a rogue spy who turned to Shawn and Gus for help after being falsely accused of robbing the Bolivian Embassy. Because espionage was the theme of this episode, Potente was the perfect choice for a guest star, and her involvement in the Bourne movies wasn't lost on the writers, who included at least two amusing references to those films. This episode also marked the return of Nestor Carbonell as Declan Rand, ex-criminal profiler and current boyfriend of Juliet, along with his Lost co-star, John Gries, who played Strabinsky, Nadia's mentor. Oh yeah, and Shawn and Juliet finally kissed.

I was really looking forward to this episode for a few reasons. First, it was the summer finale, which automatically makes it important because it sets things up for the second half of the season. Second, last week's episode was so strong, they had to ratchet things up a notch in order to go out with a bang. And finally, it was packed with talented guest stars, which has always been a strongpoint of the show. Unfortunately, aside from the moment between Shawn and Juliet that long-time fans have been waiting for, the bulk of "One, Maybe Two, Ways Out" was overly complicated and ultimately disappointing.

This episode had double-crosses, secret codes, red herrings, hidden safe houses and a call-back to Juliet's brother, Ewan (a covert military operative introduced last season). You might think these elements would help move the story along, but in reality, all they did was gum up the works and prevent us from learning anything about Nadia or Driggs. There was almost too much story crammed into this episode, and as a result, both came off as dull, one-dimensional characters with superficial action-movie personalities. Declan Rand's introduction was so memorable in the last episode, it's a shame they couldn't repeat the same success when they created Nadia and Driggs. Apparently there were supposed to be sparks between Nadia and Shawn to complicate the Shawn/Juliet relationship even further, but I got none of that. This was one of those rare PSYCH episodes where I felt the guest stars weren't able to match the promise of why they were hired in the first place.

Another drawback was the lack of comedy. Due to the overly frantic pace that lead to a pretty simple mystery, it severely cut down the number of scenes where Shawn and Gus got to shine. Sure, there was a goofy nod to Spies Like Us and Nestor Carbonell continued to deliver his lines with perfect dry wit, but given that this wasn't a suspenseful Mr. Yin/Mr. Yang episode, I wanted it to be a lot funnier than it was. The spy movie genre has an endless supply of well-known cliches that Shawn and Gus could've had fun with, but the episode was too bogged down with other details that they simply didn't have the chance to make jokes.

I'm making it seem like this was a terrible episode, which it wasn't. It just didn't live up to my expectations of a finale, especially after last week's home run. The biggest positive take-away from this week's episode was, of course, "the kiss". Due to Shawn forgetting that he was wearing a wiretap, Juliet inadvertently overheard him tell Gus about his feelings for her (although given that Shawn is the most observant person on Earth, do we really think he "forgot" the wiretap was still on?). Anyhoo, those crazy kids finally kissed and now we're left to wonder over the next couple of months which man Juliet will choose. Personally, as much as I loved that Shawn and Juliet finally showed their true feelings for each other after all these years, I don't want it to mean the end of Declan Rand. I don't know about you, but I would certainly watch a spin-off with Carbonell as a wealthy playboy who works as a fake criminal profiler in his spare time and has rock stars living in his mansion just for kicks.